Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Mission Holiday Block Party was last Friday! This meant the merchants of the Mission opened their doors until 10pm, offering free PBR, 2 buck chuck and killer deals. There were gallery openings, djs spinning, and of course bizarre elements of San Francisco bike culture.

Our first stop as we made our way down Valencia Street was the Incline Gallery-new home to the San Pancho Art Collective(the group of artists responsible for the gorgeous mural on back of Mission Pie). Their current show "Something from Nothing" featured works by one of the founders Christo Oropeza and other members. We chatted with Christo for a bit and found out that the Incline Gallery used to be a morgue! If you're into art it's an awesome show...it will also satisfy those with morbid curiosity.

As we continued up Valencia and hit 16th street, we stumbled across what had to be one of the world's strangest street corners at that given moment. A man carving a toy from a giant block of wood while drunken onlookers sifted through his bag sharp tools, a four piece band (one of the pieces being an accordian)playing gypsy music, and this--all within 10 feet of each other:The Taco Bike. Owned by Mission restaurant Weird Fish, this bike sticks to the Mission-one of the only flat neighborhoods in SF-it certainly ain't going up Nob Hill. The crowds of the Mission Block Party were delighted to see this Mercurio bike peddling squid tacos-amongst other things. There is even a condiment stand on the back wheel with a variety of salsas. Click here to see a diagram of the bike-it's pretty fascinating! Apparently these bikes are all over Mexico--they are pretty practical (in flat lands). I've been seeing/hearing about cargo bikes all over the place! How do you guys feel about them?